The Week That Was, February 3rd – 10th 2020:

Posted on 09. Feb, 2020 in: TWTW

Politics/Economy:

The government’s parliamentary ally, the Social Liberals (Radikale) warned they would consider working alongside the opposition unless their relationship with the ruling Social Democrats improves.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen laid out plans to cut the national police force (Rigspolitiet) by half and relocate manpower and resources to local authorities.

Defence Minister Trine Bramsen announced Denmark’s first-ever ‘space defence’ programme – she said the Danish military needs to be very aware of the ‘growing threat from beyond.’

Josephine Fock was elected new leader of the Alternative Party – in what appeared to be a sideswipe at outgoing leader, and founder, Uffe Elbæk, she said the Alternatives need to get back to being a serious political party based on three fundamental issues: social affairs, the climate, and the economy.

Foreign Affairs/EU:

Following a quick visit to Brussels, Thursday, for talks with President of the European Council Charles Michel, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Denmark won’t compromise on its demand for a reduced EU budget.

Ahead of a trip to Ukraine Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod relaunched the Neighbourhood Programme by granting DKK220m to the country in 2020-21 with focus on climate and energy, youth and society, workers’ rights, and good

Three leading members of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), an Iranian opposition group, were arrested by Danish Intelligence (PET) on suspicion of spying for Saudi Arabia – at the same time a high-ranking employee of the Iranian intelligence service was charged, in absentia, with conducting espionage in Denmark by obtaining photos and video footage of an exiled Iranian’s home with intent to carry out an assassination. The ambassadors of Iran and Saudi Arabia were summoned to the Foreign Ministry to offer an explanation for the espionage allegations involving their countries.

The Chinese embassy put pressure on Copenhagen City Hall to remove a pro-Hong Kong protesters sculpture from outside the Danish Parliament (Christiansborg). According to a new report, the German government possesses evidence that Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei cooperated with Chinese intelligence.

In its latest report, GRECO (the Group of States against Corruption) criticised Denmark for lagging behind most other European parliaments in implementing concrete measure to tackle corruption.

New Employment Ministry figures showed the number of east-Europeans living off Danish unemployment benefits in their own country has more than tripled.

Expenditure on foreign students has increased dramatically since 2013 when the EU ruled that EU citizens have the right to a full education grant (SU) – EU students claimed, collectively, DKK513m (€72m) last year, even though the previous Social Democrat government imposed a DKK442m cap.

A new report by the Nordic Council of Ministers showed only 36% of energy in this country is produced by wind, solar, or other sustainable sources, putting Denmark at the bottom in a comparison with Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland.

Denmark ranked fifth on the list of the world’s most expensive countries to live in, behind Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Japan.

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) called for all Chinese nationals to be refused entry to Denmark until the coronavirus is cured.

The emergency management agencies of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland signed a pan-Nordic declaration to work together to deal with the potential damage caused by climate change.

Danish Shipping (Danske Rederier) sounded the alarm about the increasing number of pirate attacks on merchant vessels and kidnappings off the coast of West Africa.

Social Affairs:

Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye said Denmark is ready to start accepting UN quota refugees again this year but declined to say how many or when.

Scientists warned that Greenland’s melting ice sheet is under threat from a new source – warm ocean water moving underneath the vast glaciers is causing them to melt even more quickly.

New figures from the apartment search engine Nestpick showed Copenhagen ranks 41st among cities that are predicted to be most impacted by climate change by 2050.

A radical Islamic extremist who was arrested in 2010 on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack on Jyllands Posten’s (JP) offices in Copenhagen was released by the Swedish authorities, despite plotting more attacks while in prison.

Business:

A review of Danske Bank’s 2019 accounts showed former and current shareholders have filed compensation claims totaling DKK7.6bn ($1.11bn) for the money they lost as a result of the drop in stock market value following the money laundering scandal – after presenting its 2019 accounts, Wednesday, Denmark’s biggest lender estimated that net profit for 2020 will be between DKK 8bn ($1.18 bn) and DKK 10bn, compared with DKK15.1bn last year. The bank also announced plans to commit DKK100bn ($15 billion) to financing green investments by 2023.

The Danish Tax Agency (SKAT) launched a DKK880m demand for compensation from nine foreign banks closely linked to the DKK12.7bn share dividend scandal, Denmark’s biggest-ever tax fraud.

The State Prosecutor’s Office for Serious Economic and International Crime (SØIK), popularly known as the fraud squad, seized an up-market property in Hyde Park, London, belonging to Sanjay Shah, the British businessman and main suspect in the share dividend scandal.

The state’s bank-clean up unit, Financial Stability, has spent around DKK700m on legal costs in lawsuits against banks that went bust set following the financial crisis ten years ago.

Two pioneering Danish robot companies joined together in a move that will make Denmark’s ‘3rd city’, Odense, a power centre for the thriving Danish robotics industry.

LEGO is hoping to make all its iconic building bricks from sustainable materials within a decade.

Vestas ended 2019 with a record intake of orders as the world’s biggest wind turbine maker benefited from global interest in renewable energy projects.

Partially state-owned green energy company Ørsted’s profit for 2019 exceeded expectations, boosted by both offshore and onshore wind power generation – operating profit rose by 17% on the year to DKK17.5 bn ($2.58bn/€ 2.34bn).

ATP, Denmark’s largest pension and social security provider, posted a record 39.7% net return on investments for 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2019.

Denmark’s highest-paid business executive, Carlsberg’s Dutch CEO Cees ’t Hart, saw his million kroner per week wage packet shrink by around 5% last year as he failed to live up to performance expectations – although Carlsberg expects short-term sales in China will be impacted by the coronavirus outbreak the Danish brewing giant declined to change its forecast or strategy for its biggest market.

Although most Danish companies are strongly committed to sustainability and support the government’s aim to reduce CO2 emissions by 70% over the next decade, one in three have so far failed to present any climate initiatives.

And That Was the Week That Was, February 3rd – 10th 2020: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).